Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained
by Madame Musashi
Summary: Little is known about the ultimate fate of Madam Boss, Giovanni's mother. But nothing is known about the fate of Giovanni's father...


**Nothing ventured, nothing gained**

The hammering at the door took them all by surprise. They weren't expecting visitors at this time of day. Frank glanced at his fiancée, Amelia, and his seven year old son, and got up to answer it. Before he could say anything, several armed men dressed in black burst into the room. They were followed by a woman who was unarmed, but her presence alone cast a shadow of unease. Frank was made to stand in the middle of the room, his fiancée next to the wall on his left and his son next to the wall on his right. All of this took less than a minute. The woman glanced round the room, not looking at all at Frank or Amelia, but her eyes clamped onto the boy. A small but warm smile tugged the corners of her mouth upwards as she went over and laid her hands on his shoulders. Earnestly, she peered into his eyes.

"Don't you recognise me?" she asked. "Don't you remember me at all?" The boy, despite his terror, looked back at her sullenly. She nodded slightly.

"Of course, I shouldn't expect you to. You were only three when…" she broke off, stood up straight again and turned to two of the men. "Take him out of here," she said, gesturing towards the boy with a small wave of her hand. The two men obliged, the screams and kicks of the boy quickly subdued by a sedative. The boy out of the way, the woman stood in front of Frank, her dark molten eyes boring into him. The sleek red suit she wore increased the dominant aura she had.

"Well, looks like I've finally found you," she said.

"Looks like it," he replied.

"You of all people should know that no one escapes me, especially not when they take my son, my only child, with them," she said.

"Four years isn't bad," Frank said. The woman gave a gentle snort of amusement.

"I'll give you credit, it isn't," she said. "But anyway, you seem to be doing well for yourself."

"Honest living can also be profitable, Violina," said Frank. Violina, for that indeed was the woman's name, simply raised an eyebrow. She stepped forward a little, and turned her head slightly towards the young woman on her left, who looked away, unable to meet even the smallest of looks from the intense eyes.

"You've been busy elsewhere too," Violina muttered, not quite as amicable sounding as she was before. She turned and purposefully walked towards Frank's fiancée. Frank, fearing that Violina's volcanic temper was about to explode called after her.

"Vi…" he began, but was silenced by a gun digging into his back. Violina's sharp eyes had spotted something. She lifted the woman's left hand to show the glittering diamond ring. She pursed her lips and looked at Frank.

"Tsk tsk tsk, Frank. Bigamy's a crime, didn't you know?" She looked back at the ring, then dismissed it with a snort. "Mine was nicer," she said to Amelia, and walked back to Frank.

"You were going to receive a letter from my lawyer soon," Frank said.

"You're going to divorce me for that little blonde wench?" Violina almost spat.

"We've been separated for long enough," Frank replied. "And the reason I left was because I did not want our son to be raised in that environment. An environment you created."

"The boy needed his mother and you took him away from me. What's fair about that?"

"A mother isn't someone who spends days or even weeks away from their child," Frank said.

"It's my job. I always spent time with him whenever I could," said Violina. "But of course that is in the past. Now he has been returned to me, it will all change."

"You haven't changed one bit," retorted Frank.

"Not having my little boy these past four years has made me reconsider some things. But you are right, in other ways I have not changed," she said. She looked directly into his eyes and lifted her hand to touch the side of his face. He couldn't hide the look in his eyes that told the ever-sharp Violina that she still stirred deep emotion in him. She had half expected it. Their love had been an intense affair from the moment they had met. Marriage had only intensified the passion. Violina's business, as she called it, was of no concern to Frank. He even encouraged it, and helped her run it. Until the baby came along. He changed Frank's outlook on things completely. Although he still loved his wife, he became more and more disenchanted with the way things were. Violina refused to change anything though, so eventually he took the decision to take their son and go into hiding. Frank knew that it would be a tough thing to do, for Violina had many contacts and many spies. He had an advantage in that he knew exactly how she operated, and thus had managed to elude her for four years, in which time he had made a new life for himself, and found a new partner. That new life had just ended.

"You still have feelings for me, don't you?" Violina said gently.

"He doesn't. He loves me, not you," came the voice of Amelia, managing to find the strength to speak for the first time. It shattered the little spark of intensity that had begun to form between Frank and Violina. Frank tried with his eyes to will his fiancée to remain quiet, but it didn't work.

"He couldn't ever have loved someone like you properly. Can't you leave us alone?" she said. Violina simply looked bored during the outburst, then she smiled smugly.

"That is where you are wrong I'm afraid. Frank loves you, I'm sure, but it is not in the same way he loved me, and I think, continues to love me. Our relationship is on another level."

"He told me he didn't love you. Frank, tell her you don't love her," Amelia pleaded. Violina looked at Frank expectantly, and Frank found himself unable to make himself utter those words to the sultry, empowered lady in front of him.

"You see my dear, I know Frank still cares for me. In all the time he has been away from me he has never told the police anything about my organisation or me. Is that the action of a man who has no feelings for is wife?" Violina said to Amelia. Her deadly gaze caused Amelia to look away again, towards Frank.

"Police?" she asked him. Violina looked between the two, an expression of evil delight on her face.

"You mean to say Frank has never told you about me? Never let on who he shared his bed with? Not been honest about his past?" she said, tauntingly.

"No," said Amelia, obviously already heartbroken that things were not as she had thought.

"Frank! That's not like you at all!" Violina exclaimed, enjoying herself. Frank simply shifted uncomfortably. Violina smiled at Amelia.

"Well then, I shall introduce myself properly. Normally I simply send out my people to deal with matters that…concern me. However, this is something so personal that I have to deal with it personally. You should feel honoured to be one of the few people to ever see the leader of the illustrious Team Rocket."

"Team Rocket? You are the boss of Team Rocket?" Amelia looked as if she were about to faint. "Why didn't you tell me Frank?"

"Amelia, I didn't want to keep it from you but I had to. I had to keep it quiet to protect myself and my son," he replied.

"It's not worked, has it?" Amelia said, tears trickling down her face. She turned away from everyone. Violina looked at her unfeelingly then turned back to Frank.

"Satisfied?" he asked her.

"Not quite," she replied. She turned to the men in the room. "Take her into another room, but do not harm her. All of you go." The men obeyed their leader instantly, and dragged the reluctant Amelia out of the room. Frank and Violina were alone.

"If you could have resisted the urge to be so vicious, she would have been non the wiser. She could have lived," Frank said.

"That's not my fault. I didn't know you hadn't told her. I expected that seeing as she was your fiancée, you knew everything about each other," Violina retorted. Her expression softened and she grasped his hand. Again she looked into his eyes and they both felt the intense spark between them.

"If you come back to me, all will be forgiven. The whole incident will be forgotten," Violina said.

"And everything will be as before?" replied Frank.

"No, it will be different. I told you, I have had time to think things though," said Violina. Frank shook his head.

"I can't go back and pretend nothing has happened Violina," he said. "Give me back our son and I can guarantee that Amelia won't mention anything about Team Rocket to anyone."

"I don't think you can. She will tell. I know that. I know people," Violina answered. Frank knew that she didn't want to kill him, but she would if she had to.

"At least let me and the boy live away from Team Rocket," he said.

"I will not be apart from him any longer," Violina glared.

"If I came back I would take him again," Frank said. "After what has happened today I don't think I'd be able to keep quiet about Team Rocket, either." Violina turned away from him so he couldn't see the expression on her face.

"You are leaving me with no choice, you know that. You may be my husband, the one person I have shared everything with, but the rules are the same to you as they would be if you were the lowest ranking member of Team Rocket. You betrayed me. And yet you won't accept the offer to save yourself and to see your son again."

"If I cannot see my son then I have nothing to live for," replied Frank. Violina turned back to him, her dark molten eyes sorrowful.

"Then you have made your decision?"

"It looks like it."

"It doesn't have to be like this. We both need you," Violina told him.

"You don't need me, Violina."

"It wasn't just him I came looking for," she said. Frank let out a small sigh. He'd never seen Violina this close to being on her knees. She was not the type of woman who begged for things to go her way. They went her way or else. This time Frank was going to have to face the "or else" scenario. His mind was made up. The four years apart may have changed some things about Violina, but they had also changed him.

"I think that it is time for you to go," he said, trying to be stoical. Violina drew herself up in her dignified, proud way.

"You are right," she said, though her usual foreboding manner was cracked.

"If you meant what you said, you will take care of him," Frank said.

"Of course I will," she replied. "I give you my word. I never break that."

"No," he replied. "You don't." They looked at each other, knowing neither had really won anything, and both had lost much. Violina went over to the door that led into the room where Amelia and the armed men were. She called one of them over, and spoke quietly in his ear. Then she walked over to Frank.

"Goodbye," she said. He didn't reply until she reached the front door.

"Goodbye," he said. She stopped, but didn't turn round. Then she was gone.

* * *

The boy opened his eyes groggily. He realised that he was lying in the back of a car, his head in someone's lap. His vision cleared properly, and a woman's face came into view, dark hair shifting position as she peered at him, a smile on her lips.

"I'm glad you're awake. I'm sorry that we had to take you like that, but there wasn't much choice," she told him. "I'm also sorry about your father…I didn't want anything to happen to him, but it was his choice. He wouldn't come back with us." The boy frowned slightly, not quite believing that his father would abandon him, yet the tone of the woman's voice sowed the seeds of doubt in his heart. She stroked his hair.

"But you are back with your mother now. Back where you belong. I will look after you, and you will learn about so many things…" she broke off and kissed his forehead gently. "That's in the future though. Right now we'll just get you settled in. I'll expect it if you find it strange, or get angry. It's only natural."

"Where's my father?" the boy mumbled.

"He's…somewhere safe. Don't worry about him," she replied. She kissed him again. "You have me to look after you now Giovanni."


End file.
